DSC_4336
Who's ready for a history lesson??? No one??? PERFECT!
This particular figure brings me back about 15 years ago, when I started getting serious with regards to collecting scale PVCs. It was around the time when manufacturers started offering upscale options to collectors outside of the the typical hollow PVC pieces that evolved into the Prize figures of today. One of the lines that captured my full attention was the Queen's Blade line. While the property did eventually spawn an anime series, its original inception was based on American table top role playing games, specifically one on one combat books. In a very typical anime twist, Hobby Japan started releasing their own books (which I believe are technically compatible with the American system) featuring original characters in the Queen's Blade line, and many, many notable cameo characters in the Queen's Gate subline. These books served the purpose of illustrating the battle being fought with wits and dice, and showed your character attacking, being attacked, knocked down, etc. Being a slightly more ecchi property, battle damage was more lecherous than gory.
What do I mean by ecchi? Well, if memory serves me right, each of the characters was designed with some sort of kink in mind. Some are more obvious than others, naturally.
It wasn't long before companies started taking note and producing statues, most notable being Megahouse with the Excellent Core Model series of Queen's Blade and Queen's Gate figures. The Queen's Blade figures featured cast off in order to simulate battle damage and that "final defeat" look (sort of.. they still maintained the original pose), whereas the Queen's Gate figures, which were licensed from third parties, did not feature cast off (or maybe they were capable of it but ultimately were glued permanently.. who knows? I only had one of those as the prices were high in comparison to a regular figure). While cast off scale statues weren't exactly surprising, given the viable market and all, what was surprising to me was that Kaiyodo got into the property, releasing Revoltech figures of a good portion of the characters, if not all of them. Which brings me to the subject of this overview.
Presenting Revoltech Queen's Blade: Nanael.
On the surface, Nanael looks like the most innocent design of the entire Queen's Blade line. She is an angel sent to Earth to participate in the Queen's Blade tournament, and has a secret desire to have her own harem.. like I said, she SEEMS like the most innocent. She of course has a very standard anime inspired angel getup of white robes, accented by shiny metal boots and gauntlets, and two wings, one of which is significantly larger than the other. Other than her angelic magic, Nanael is armed with her saber, which can be wielded in hand to hand combat (though I don't remember her being particular competent at that) or used like a familiar. Relatively PG, right?
Well, her dark secret makes her probably one of the most perverse designs of them all. You see, for all her faults, Nanael has one major weakness - that flask she wear. Within it is some sort of sacred milk that, if spilled, would result in terrible things happening to Nanael. And yep, that's her losing pose.. basically stripped down to nothing covered with a white "milk". What makes things particularly interesting is when I arranged to buy this from a guy in Vancouver, I figured that the worst case scenario would be you could probably strip the figure down and put her in battle damaged garb, maybe with a look of disappointment on her face (like all the other Revoltech Queen's Blade releases) and that would be it. Nope - Kaiyodo went all the way and actually provided her with a liquid covered nude body, which honestly kind of shocked me because quite frankly, every other Nanael figure I've ever seen (that I can remember) did not feature this at all. Spilling milk, maybe, but never actual milk on the body itself.
The things you learn.
Nanael was originally released in 2009, and was subsequently released as part of the Legacy line that brought into my life Hentai Woody, and I don't think Nanael was alone from the Queen's Blade line, because at the very least I recall Risty being reissued. The package she came with with pretty modest. There's the figure, two extra hands, her sword, her alternate milk covered face, the flask with belt, milk spray effect for use with the bottle, and of course, battle damaged garb (both top and undergarments). All this came with the standard orange parts box and a stand that is generally useless unless you want to pose Nanael in a kind of flying pose.
Like Woody, Nanael doesn't appear to have been stylized in terms of appearance, and generally resembles her character model. The overall look isn't too bad, with Nanael having an accurate body silhouette, though I feel her head/face are a bit on the small side, with eyes that could use some enlarging. If her alternate portrait is too graphic, then her standard portrait is the complete opposite, being generally too boring. In fact, she basically has no expression whatsoever, which is somewhat disappointing, because Nanael is a brat and a mischievous expression would have suited her quite well rather than the empty expression she now has. Her wings, also, I felt got a bit nerfed in terms of size and overall "oomph" though they did put some nice detailing into the feathers. The sword is generally functional and is a good size. Battle damaged clothing is pretty much what you were expecting, exposing maximum skin while keeping just enough so it hangs on to the body without a nip slip. In the interest of keeping things generally tasteful, I didn't bother posing up pictures of this full battle damaged gettup - you have the internet for that, and I'm sure you can get a good idea of whats happening from my pictures anyway.
Articulation is again that maddening use of the Revoltech joint system, which requires twice as much effort to do anything with due to the design of the joints themselves. Articulation points include ankles, knees, mid thigh swivel, hips, mid torso, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and head. Joints are standard, so again you don't get that amazing range of motion enjoyed by the more stylized looking releases. Hip movement is further complicated by the cut of the thighs, which in the defense of Kaiyodo, was meant to preserve the curves of the character model. but makes any non standard posing a real chore. About the only things that I can operate without too much grief would be her wings. Speaking of wings, her smaller right wing features an additional Revoltech joint for mounting her sword on.
Paintwork is actually quite solid. Finishes are generally quite clean, with the exception of some rough patches on her wings, a bit of paint over spray on the hilt of her sword, and uneven painting of the shiny silver parts. Otherwise, Nanael is quite clean looking.. yes even her uncovered body, at least when it comes to paint apps, though it looks like Kaiyodo could have budgeted some money for actual flesh coloured paint, though, as all the fleshy bits are just the base plastic. Mind you, there is the potential that with all the casting on and off, paint rub could have become an issue, so perhaps there was some logic to keeping it unpainted. Decals were predominately used for her face (mainly eyes) which were applied evenly and were not crooked.
Having passed the paint critique (usually the weakest of the Kaiyodo review stops), build quality always has been good, and Nanael was no exception, with quality joints that hold positions and general handling, and an overall construction that did not feel flimsy.
So in the end, another awkwardly posing Revoltech which otherwise is pretty good. Knowing what Nanael (and the Queen's Blade line) is, clearly it's not for the squeamish or easily offended. Taking subject matter out of the equation though, the Queen's Blade character designs are quite nice and Nanael is one of many memorable creations. Her biggest Revoltech weakness would be the vapid expression, which is, taking subject matter back into the equation, offset by the most graphic damaged mode of them all. I think if you're able to keep an open mind and just enjoy outlandish designs on the whole, you might just want to consider picking up Nanael and her cohorts should the opportunity arise and the price be acceptable.
DSC_4336
Who's ready for a history lesson??? No one??? PERFECT!
This particular figure brings me back about 15 years ago, when I started getting serious with regards to collecting scale PVCs. It was around the time when manufacturers started offering upscale options to collectors outside of the the typical hollow PVC pieces that evolved into the Prize figures of today. One of the lines that captured my full attention was the Queen's Blade line. While the property did eventually spawn an anime series, its original inception was based on American table top role playing games, specifically one on one combat books. In a very typical anime twist, Hobby Japan started releasing their own books (which I believe are technically compatible with the American system) featuring original characters in the Queen's Blade line, and many, many notable cameo characters in the Queen's Gate subline. These books served the purpose of illustrating the battle being fought with wits and dice, and showed your character attacking, being attacked, knocked down, etc. Being a slightly more ecchi property, battle damage was more lecherous than gory.
What do I mean by ecchi? Well, if memory serves me right, each of the characters was designed with some sort of kink in mind. Some are more obvious than others, naturally.
It wasn't long before companies started taking note and producing statues, most notable being Megahouse with the Excellent Core Model series of Queen's Blade and Queen's Gate figures. The Queen's Blade figures featured cast off in order to simulate battle damage and that "final defeat" look (sort of.. they still maintained the original pose), whereas the Queen's Gate figures, which were licensed from third parties, did not feature cast off (or maybe they were capable of it but ultimately were glued permanently.. who knows? I only had one of those as the prices were high in comparison to a regular figure). While cast off scale statues weren't exactly surprising, given the viable market and all, what was surprising to me was that Kaiyodo got into the property, releasing Revoltech figures of a good portion of the characters, if not all of them. Which brings me to the subject of this overview.
Presenting Revoltech Queen's Blade: Nanael.
On the surface, Nanael looks like the most innocent design of the entire Queen's Blade line. She is an angel sent to Earth to participate in the Queen's Blade tournament, and has a secret desire to have her own harem.. like I said, she SEEMS like the most innocent. She of course has a very standard anime inspired angel getup of white robes, accented by shiny metal boots and gauntlets, and two wings, one of which is significantly larger than the other. Other than her angelic magic, Nanael is armed with her saber, which can be wielded in hand to hand combat (though I don't remember her being particular competent at that) or used like a familiar. Relatively PG, right?
Well, her dark secret makes her probably one of the most perverse designs of them all. You see, for all her faults, Nanael has one major weakness - that flask she wear. Within it is some sort of sacred milk that, if spilled, would result in terrible things happening to Nanael. And yep, that's her losing pose.. basically stripped down to nothing covered with a white "milk". What makes things particularly interesting is when I arranged to buy this from a guy in Vancouver, I figured that the worst case scenario would be you could probably strip the figure down and put her in battle damaged garb, maybe with a look of disappointment on her face (like all the other Revoltech Queen's Blade releases) and that would be it. Nope - Kaiyodo went all the way and actually provided her with a liquid covered nude body, which honestly kind of shocked me because quite frankly, every other Nanael figure I've ever seen (that I can remember) did not feature this at all. Spilling milk, maybe, but never actual milk on the body itself.
The things you learn.
Nanael was originally released in 2009, and was subsequently released as part of the Legacy line that brought into my life Hentai Woody, and I don't think Nanael was alone from the Queen's Blade line, because at the very least I recall Risty being reissued. The package she came with with pretty modest. There's the figure, two extra hands, her sword, her alternate milk covered face, the flask with belt, milk spray effect for use with the bottle, and of course, battle damaged garb (both top and undergarments). All this came with the standard orange parts box and a stand that is generally useless unless you want to pose Nanael in a kind of flying pose.
Like Woody, Nanael doesn't appear to have been stylized in terms of appearance, and generally resembles her character model. The overall look isn't too bad, with Nanael having an accurate body silhouette, though I feel her head/face are a bit on the small side, with eyes that could use some enlarging. If her alternate portrait is too graphic, then her standard portrait is the complete opposite, being generally too boring. In fact, she basically has no expression whatsoever, which is somewhat disappointing, because Nanael is a brat and a mischievous expression would have suited her quite well rather than the empty expression she now has. Her wings, also, I felt got a bit nerfed in terms of size and overall "oomph" though they did put some nice detailing into the feathers. The sword is generally functional and is a good size. Battle damaged clothing is pretty much what you were expecting, exposing maximum skin while keeping just enough so it hangs on to the body without a nip slip. In the interest of keeping things generally tasteful, I didn't bother posing up pictures of this full battle damaged gettup - you have the internet for that, and I'm sure you can get a good idea of whats happening from my pictures anyway.
Articulation is again that maddening use of the Revoltech joint system, which requires twice as much effort to do anything with due to the design of the joints themselves. Articulation points include ankles, knees, mid thigh swivel, hips, mid torso, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and head. Joints are standard, so again you don't get that amazing range of motion enjoyed by the more stylized looking releases. Hip movement is further complicated by the cut of the thighs, which in the defense of Kaiyodo, was meant to preserve the curves of the character model. but makes any non standard posing a real chore. About the only things that I can operate without too much grief would be her wings. Speaking of wings, her smaller right wing features an additional Revoltech joint for mounting her sword on.
Paintwork is actually quite solid. Finishes are generally quite clean, with the exception of some rough patches on her wings, a bit of paint over spray on the hilt of her sword, and uneven painting of the shiny silver parts. Otherwise, Nanael is quite clean looking.. yes even her uncovered body, at least when it comes to paint apps, though it looks like Kaiyodo could have budgeted some money for actual flesh coloured paint, though, as all the fleshy bits are just the base plastic. Mind you, there is the potential that with all the casting on and off, paint rub could have become an issue, so perhaps there was some logic to keeping it unpainted. Decals were predominately used for her face (mainly eyes) which were applied evenly and were not crooked.
Having passed the paint critique (usually the weakest of the Kaiyodo review stops), build quality always has been good, and Nanael was no exception, with quality joints that hold positions and general handling, and an overall construction that did not feel flimsy.
So in the end, another awkwardly posing Revoltech which otherwise is pretty good. Knowing what Nanael (and the Queen's Blade line) is, clearly it's not for the squeamish or easily offended. Taking subject matter out of the equation though, the Queen's Blade character designs are quite nice and Nanael is one of many memorable creations. Her biggest Revoltech weakness would be the vapid expression, which is, taking subject matter back into the equation, offset by the most graphic damaged mode of them all. I think if you're able to keep an open mind and just enjoy outlandish designs on the whole, you might just want to consider picking up Nanael and her cohorts should the opportunity arise and the price be acceptable.